The Backseat

The Backseat takes the high school coming of age story and fits in the Judd Apatow style humor that has become popular over the last 8 years or so in mainstream comedy. Roy the main character and his down to earth Scottish friend Larry set out to name their band as well as find a drummer. That's when Mike makes his appearance as the sex crazed crude playboy that joins the band and ultimately becomes a major plot point to Roy's Story. Roy juggles band practice and dating the entire movie while lacking coping skills to handle both at the same time. Without giving anything away the plot is pretty original of what an inexperience teen can go through while dating and being sexual active. The balance of humor and serious topics fits very nicely together.

The main character Roy holds himself really well for the entire movie; he is emotionally believable for a high school student. Same can be said about the humor if you remember back to those awkward high school days. Roy is that awkward teenager who is always trying to do the right them but ultimately isn't up for the task because of his age and high thoughts of grandeur and lack of life experience.

All the supporting characters deserve a standing ovation and no real criticism. The best part is each character gives a great perspective that a teenager would expect; A loving and laughable clueless mother, a stern father, a bully of a teacher, and of course the best friend. One might say they aren't believable… this is a movie! They are here to get Roy through his journey and bring laughter to the audience along the way. The best example goes to Roy's Scottish sidekick and best friend Larry who is in the picture to ground Roy. You might say Larry is the angel on left while Mike is the devil on the right. Mike is always out to hook up with a new girl and has no sense of commitment or respect for women. Each give him a perspective; being swayed left and right in what he should do while courting the lovely yet go getting leading lady Samantha. With all that said Roy comes out at the end with a better insight of himself with all the lessons he learn and how to cope with high school hardships.

Another note of enjoyment I found is the "Idea" of the movie or maybe a better phrase would be "The making" of the movie. It was majority self funded by Director Ryan O'Leary and was pulled off amazingly. I find most indie movies to fall flat near the end to either lack of funds, actor availability, or lack of writing perhaps. But The Backseat really pulled it off and keeps you in your seat and keeps you interested till the end.

Chris Bellant stars in this film as Roy...a very insecure high schooler who is trying to create a new band. Along the way, he meets Samantha (Allyson Reilly) and they soon fall in love. Watching them together is often very sweet, though later Roy becomes incredibly jealous and controlling and loses her. Can Roy get it together or his he destined to remain alone and miserable?

"The Backseat" is a very frustrating film to watch. On one hand, it features a cute relationship between two teens who seem so much more normal than your typical romance. Neither is gorgeous and I think this is a big strength of the movie. Unfortunately, while the film generally does a good job with these two, it also has two serious problems. Roy, while very sweet and cute, becomes so fantastically controlling and jealous that the film is a bit creepy. The film seems to give a mixed message about this...as if it might just be okay! But a much more serious problem is that the movie is so incredibly crude and offensive--something you would not normally want from a romance! How offensive? REALLY offensive. So offensive that it would be a serious turnoff to most couples. IMDb has a policy which prevents me from quoting from the most egregious examples but include many comments about anal intercourse, gay slurs and some horribly demeaning comments about the developmentally challenged that made me cringe--and it would most likely do the same to most viewers. These comments as well as a few of the songs are not exactly romantic...to say the least. Now I am not a super politically correct sort of guy but that clearly was beyond what most folks would consider offensive.

The bottom line is that this film is incredibly uneven--as if some talented actors and a director were given a script written by Bevis and Butthead. They and the audience deserve better.